Ching, who injured his left hamstring in the Dynamo's 2-1 victory over Real Salt Lake back on April 1, is reportedly resuming training Monday and Tuesday with the possibility of being available for Wednesday's Texas derby against FC Dallas.

A healthy, if not strong, showing from Ching this week could also be enough to re-insert himself in the national team discussion with Bob Bradley's roster selection just days away.

Here are a few more soccer stories from around the world:

HULL TIES WIGAN, OFFICIALLY RELEGATED

After a two-year stay in England's top league, Hull City has officially been relegated.

Playing without Jozy Altidore, whose red card last week effectively suspended him for the rest of the season, Hull managed to battle back from a 1-0 deficit on goals from Will Atkinson and Mark Cullen.

Gohouri's equalizer was merely sealed the formality in Hull's relegation. Even if the Tigers had come away with three points, they'd still be trailing 17th-place West Ham by three points, and the Hammers would have had a better goal differential by 21. Hull will accompany drop-zone mates Burnley and Portsmouth in the League Championship next season.

Kuranyi, who was kicked off the national team in October, 2008, after leaving a qualifying game for which he wasn't selected at halftime, has not fallen back into the good graces of manager Joachim Loew enough to warrant a selection on the roster.

Raymond Domenech is on the outs regardless of how the French finish this summer, and French publication L'Equipe reported that the French Football Federation president has already made an offer to Blanc.

Blanc guided Bordeaux to the quarterfinals of the Champions League before falling to Ligue 1 rival Olympique Lyon.

—————-

Excited to see Ching return? Does he deserve a spot on the USMNT roster this summer? What do you think Altidore's next move should be? Do you think Germany has enough firepower to leave Kuranyi at home? Who is best-suited to guide the French?

Recent News

Comments

Comment navigation

patrick, i didnt mean to sound as a Ching hater. I actually like the guy and think he should be going to SA. Its just with his fitness its a toss up to who is exactly better, and we are more then a month away, so that might or might not be a factor.

I was trying to say we have proven guys that are injured (ching/davies) that have different roles. And we have healthy untested guys (buddle/gomez/cunningham/etc) that I wouldnt bet the farm on.

This is why Bob is paid the big $ and we all sit on message boards and like to think we know what we are talking about. I think bob was the only person in the world with confidence in CC in Honduras, so at this point in Bob I Trust.

except boca gooch wont be there on crosses, only set pieces. Furthermore, while clint is pretty good in the air, he is no ching. I’m not saying that accomplishment alone should get him a spot, just another talent he brings to the table, along with collecting, distributing and drawing fouls. Read the entire post rather than cherrypicking one sentence to nit pick on

You guys can write all the paragraphs you want about how great Ching is at playing as a target striker against San Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago, but that’s not impressing anyone. Ching would get destroyed trying to play like that against England or Slovenia. He’s currently rehabbing an injury that could possibly flare up again in SA and has no form going into this upcoming camp.

Ching doesn’t hold up the ball well, he holds us up from scoring. He brings NOTHING to the game. He is slow, and his distribution contributes nothing to our offense. He may be special in the MLS, but let’s face it, we all could be. The U.S. needs to start attacking. We need to prove we belong. We need to stop being satisfied with a guy who can hold the ball up. Jozy gets in great position and tries to make plays. He can distribute or turn on his man and make a move. Ching is garbage. Watch some soccer outside the MLS and learn a few things.

youre thought are simple and fueled by the lack of an understanding of the way the US plays. When brian ching was out, why do you think conor casey got all those call ups to play alongside jozy? certainly not becasue he’s our best forward, but because HE FITS THE BILL. The reason we need brian ching is the same reason why real madrid’s galacticos never worked out The “best”, most skilled 11 isnt always the best team. Hopefully you’ll understand that someday.

And what BILL is that? Mediocrity? Just because that’s what we have been doing, doesn’t mean it’s right. Where has it gotten us? Please tell me what Ching has done against a real opponent? I’m not talking about the Chicago Fire. He comes back to the ball and either falls, looking for a foul, or he sends it back where it came from. He is useless. If you tell me this is what our offense is supposed to look like, then I am not even going to watch. What is all the hard work for, if you just show up in SA, and hold the ball up. It’s BS. I want to see us actually score this time around. Ching sucks.

Well I don’t see Altidore becoming like Adu. Everyone likes to use some psychological angle on Adu’s struggles I think it is simply because he is not quick and not strong. He doesn’t have the quickness to go by people and he is not strong enough to take the pressure from big defenders. Altidore is just an athletic specimen. He has the ability to be a force he just needs to improve his skill level.

I’ll never understand the love. Seriously, I have not seen where the hype comes from. Please someone elaborate. I don’t want to hear about his hold up skills. I am pretty sure we can find 10-20 guys who can do that.

Because all Brian Ching ever did was play in the MLS. He’s 31 now and he has never adapted to play outside of the US because he’s not good enough. Lets face it the MLS is not a good league to be in right now this is why I am very proud to see players like Holden and Clark leaving MLS to play in Europe so they can get better in their games. Staying in MLS just keeps your game at the same level, look at Ching he is the same player now then he was 5 years ago nothing has change he’s not impressive. Gomez left MLS to play in Mexico and look at him now he’s the scoring champ and his game got a lot better. Same with Buddle he’s in a scoring streak with goals and I heard rumors that European teams like Blackburn in the EPL are intrested in him. Ching isn’t a good asset at all for the USMNT. That is why picking Buddle and Gomez is the right choice for the USA!

i dont think his international experience against COCACAF opposition is enough to put him over buddle. personally, i hope ching is left home unless he makes some miraculous run and scores nonstop from here on out.

Just because a player has only played in MLS does not mean he is not good enough. The 2002 US World Cup team was mostly MLS players. Donovan has played in the MLS his whole career, with a few stints in Europe. Would you say he is not good enough for Europe? And for you to say that the MLS is not a good league, what do you base that on? This league is better than a lot of other leagues. And the teams have proven that they can compete with Europe’s best. The friendly’s played here against teams like AC Milan, Inter Milan, Barcelona, etc… They have not been blow outs, but competitive matches.

As for Gomez, he battled injuries while here in MLS. And where have you heard these rumors about Buttle? I have read nothing about European teams being interested. Ching is a veteran, his leadership and time with the team alone make him a good asset.

Guys, I’ll admit, maybe Buddle and Gomez are better, but they way we are, it’s not about that. It’s about the logistics of this team and it’s roster. Brian Ching is going because he is a target man and he can fill in just in case Jozy Altidore gets injured. Gomez and Buddle are not as good at being the target, taking the lumps, holding the ball, and keeping it under physical pressure from the other team, I think we can admit that. If Jozy goes down, who is the target? Not Charlie, he just got off an injury and he’s sure to take lumps from physical defenders like Ferdinand and Terry. Slovenia and Algeria aren’t going to give him an easy time either, especially not the way Bougherra(sp) has been playing for Rangers. Buddle and Gomez are more out and out strikers, based on playing off of a bigger striker.

What I COULD see happening is that Bedoya be left off the roster for Gomez or Buddle, but that’s unlikely.

Are Gomez and Buddle better goalscorers? Maybe so, but if they don’t fit into what this team needs they don’t go.

Donovan: Besides Donovan, he’s the only MLS player that can probably dominate in Europe, if it wasn’t for the Galaxy Donovan would be in Everton right now which means he will not be in MLS.

I’m not saying MLS is a horrible league i’m just saying it’s not a top league at this moment many leagues in Europe and South America are way better than the MLS it is impossible to say that this statement is false. As for the European clubs playing against MLS teams, first of all those games are just friendlies so the players aren’t going to play in 100% mode and they still beat MLS teams. Imagine if one MLS team played Chelsea in a real BPL Season game do you think those MLS team will get blow out I think so since Chelsea blowout teams with their own League Team opponets imagine a MLS team.

Yes, Gomez battle with injuries but before that MLS coaches were playing him at the wrong positions. When he went to Puebla they put him as a striker and look at him now with 10 goals.

How does Ching not fit with the group of players? He and Landon have an excellent chemistry. Jozy himself said that his favorite striker to play alongside was Brian Ching, although that was before he played beside Davies. He’s a physical guy who works hard and has some good quality on the ball like a lot of the national team. What does Gomez being played out of position have ANYTHING to do with injuries?

yes, it is a gamble, but unless you can give me names of players youd be happy to replace those injured, I’m sticking with those guys even if they are on the “comeback trail”. As we’ve seen in the gold cup there is a HUGE drop off after our first 11-13 players. Give me a fit but working back into form holden, davies or ching over kljestan robbie rogers, robbie findley and conor casey. It’s all relative! If we had mo edu Jermaine jones m bradley and rico clark in the pool but say edu was in holden’s position I’d pass, but we DONT have the option to replace these guys. Do you understand/agree with that?

at this point I would take the x factor, after all, what has Ching done lately. and besides, Altidore can now hold on to the ball, he has played the lone forward position the whole season to know what to do with it. Ching, was known as Mr. Target man, because that is the only thing he did well and was the only that could do it, I think the current roster is better adapt at doing that role, i.e. Altidore and Dempsy, and if Buddle goes, he does it too for the Galaxy.

Ching is “vitrually unstoppable in the air?” Against which good international side has he proven that ability? He has scored 11 interntional goals since 2004, three of which were in friendlies, and none against Mexico or Costa Rica, none outside of CONCACAF (and it goes without saying, also none in non-MLS club competition. Ching is a marginal player you use as a body when you don’t have the technical ability to possess the ball up front and hope to rely on a once-a-game defensive blunder or lucky bounce, but he has never proven that he can do more against a good team. He’s not a bad player per se, its just that the U.S. international game has passed him.

it’s the bill THAT BOB BRADLEY HAS THE TEAM PLAYING UNDER. This isn’t a pick up game, each team comes in with a plan, an idea of how to play. Much of that for the US, is to have a physical large forward that can draw fouls to advance the ball, hold balls to relieve pressure and distribute to keep possession.

Everyone keeps talking about us playing sexy soccer, WE’RE NOT THERE YET. The goal of the world cup isn’t to be the prettiest, or score the most goals, it is to win the world cup trophy, however possible.

can we? really? 10-20 guys? wow you must have QUITE the network of scouts, becasue bob bradley could only find 2 with american passports, ching and casey. Who are these other hold up forwards you speak of? kenny cooper? the getting older every day brian mcbride? eric wynalda, cobi jones?

Week 1 of the 2018 USL season provided fans with plenty of great matchups and show-stopping goals. First, New York Red Bulls II came from behind to see off Toronto FC II to win their opening game of the (…)